Doll with flexibly-joined appendages

ABSTRACT

Joint assemblies for joining the head, arms, and legs of a doll to the trunk, which enable lifelike bouncing movement of these appendages, comprising rubber armatures fixed in the truck and having elongated portions extending to the appendages. The elongated portions extending to the head and legs have outer sections of reduced diameter to cause pivoting to occur about a pivot point near the appendage, as occurs in a human body.

United States Patent [72] Inventors David L. Bear 2,623,329 12/1952 Dileva 46/163 X Palos Verdes Estates; 2,966,762 1/1961 Hardaway et al 46/173 X Gregory M. Guenther, Palos Verdes FOREIGN PATENTS Estates- Donald Markey Jr. Hawthorne- 1,071,647 9/1954 France 1. 46/161 2'55" Beach 1,312,723 12/1962 France 46/173 1,386,510 12/1964 France 1 46/161 1211 Appl No, 785,884 22] Filed Dec. 23,1968 1,038,811 8/1966 Great Br1ta1n 46/173 [45] Patented June 29, 1971 Primary ExaminerLouis G. Mancene [73] Assignee Mattel, Inc. Assistant Examiner-J. A. Oliff Hawthorne, Calif. Attorney-Seymour A. Scholnick [54] DOLL WITH FLEXlBLY-JOINED APPENDAGES 12 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S.Cl 46/161,

46/173 ABSTRACT: Joint assemblies for joining the head, arms, and [51] Int. Cl A63h 3/20 legs f a do to the trunk which enabh; lif lik bouncing [50] Field of Search 46/ 161, movement f these appendages comprising rubber armamres 163, 164, 173, 15 162 fixed in the truck and having elongated portions extending to the appendages. The elongated portions extending to the head [56] References C'ted and legs have outer sections of reduced diameter to cause UNITED STATES PATENTS pivoting to occur about a pivot point near the appendage, as 2,021,115 11/1935 Jackson 46/161 UX occurs in a human body.

PATENTEUJUNZQISH 3,589,061

swan 2 BF 2 DOLL WITH F LEXIBLY-JOINED APPENDAGES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to articulated toys, and more particularly to a joint arrangement therefor.

2. Description of the Prior Art The toy art is replete with articulated toys such as dolls with movable heads and limbs, and a wide variety of devices have been used for joining the head and limbs to the trunk. One type of doll has appendages which have a quiescent position, but the appendages are designed to oscillate about this position when disturbed. In order to minimize costs, simplified joining arrangements have been resorted to, which often are too fragile. Furthermore, such joints often result in oscillating movement of the doll appendages in a manner which is far from lifelike.

Lifelike movement of doll appendages, particularly the arms and legs, requires that they turn as though they were joined to the doll trunk by ball-and-socket joints placed in positions corresponding to those in the human or in animal bodies. This could be accomplished by a combination of balland-socket joints for establishing the pivot points and axes of twisting, and by springs or the like for biasing the appendages toward a quiescent position. However, the cost of such an arrangement can be high because of the number of relatively intricate parts and the difficulty of properly installing them in the limited space available.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide simple toys with appendages that move in a lifelike manner.

Another object is to provide apparatus for use. in dolls to join the appendages to the trunk in a manner that causes lifelike movement from a quiescent position while biasing the appendages to return to the quiescent position.

In accordance with the present invention, dolls are provided in which the appendages are joined to the trunk by armatures of rubber or other elastic material in a manner that enables lifelike appendage movements. The armatures are elongated, and can bend in any direction as well as twist about their lengths. Thus, they perform the movements that a ball-andsocket joint or flexible neck vertebrae in many animals allows. The elastic nature of the armature biases the appendage back toward a quiescent state which is assumed when no forces are applied.

For appendages whichallow sufficient space, a bracket is provided on the trunk which supports the armature just inside of a desired pivot point. The armature bends or rotates about axes just outside of the position where it is held by the bracket. In the case of some appendages, the natural pivot point is within the appendage. For example, the human head can pivot about a point near the top of the neck, which is a substantial distance from the top of the human trunk. In these cases, a bracket on the trunk cannot be easily supplied that extends to just inside of the pivot point. To assure a desired location of the pivot point, the armature is made narrow at the desired location and pivoting is found to occur at this narrowest section.

The novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention will be best understood from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a sectional front view of a doll constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1',

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the upper armature of the doll ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the lower armature of the doll of FIG. I,

FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view of the doll of FIG. 1 engaged with a retaining case; and

FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view of the retaining case of FIG. 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 illustrates a doll l0 constructed in accordance with the invention, which includes a torso or trunk housing 12, head housing 14, arm housings I6 and 18, and leg housings 20 and 22, which may be sometimes referred to as the head, arms, and legs, respectively. A first armature 24 has a central portion 25 and three elongated armature portions 26, 28 and 30 for flexibly coupling the trunk to the head and arms. A second armature 27 has two armature portions 32 and 34 for flexibly coupling the trunk to the legs. The head, arms, and legs are constructed for unrestrained pivoting and movement toward and away from the trunk, within a wide range, by providing sufficient clearance between them, so that within this range, their movement is governed substantially by the armatures. The armatures are constructed of alresilient material, such as rubber or other elastomeric material, and they are thick enough to support the doll appendages in a quiescent position rather than to merely allow them to hang limply.

The armature 24 is designed to pivot the head housing about axes that pass approximately through a point 36 which is near the center of the neck portion 38 of the head. The armature portions 28 and 30 are designed to pivot the arms about axes that pass through points 40 and 42, respectively, while the leg-supporting armature portions 32 and 34 are designed to pivot the legs about axes that pass through points 44 and 46. The head pivot point 36 is located approximately at the point about which a person turns his head to look up or down or to tilt it to one side. The arm and leg pivot points are at approximately the location of the joints in the human body about which the entire arms and legs pivot.

As also shown in FIG. 2, the trunk housing 12 includes a back housing section 48 and front housing section 50. Bracket means 52 is provided to hold the central portion 25 of the upper armature 24 on the trunk housing. The bracket means includes a central bracket portion 54 fixed to the back housing section, with slots 56, 57 and 58 (FIG. 1) that receive the central armature portion. The central bracket portion also includes a pin 59 that engages a hole 61 in the central armature portion. An opposing bracket portion 60, fixed to the front housing section, also engages the junction or central area of the armature, so the armature 24 is held between the two bracket portions. The bracket means also includes a pair of bracket members 62 (FIG. 1) and 64 (FIGS. 1, 2 and 3) fixed to the back trunk housing portion, and another opposed pair, including member 68 (FIGS. 2 and 3), fixed to the front housing section. These bracket members support the elongated armature portions 28 and 30 at positions close to the doll arms 16 and 18.

The pivot point 42 for arm 18 is located just outside of the positions of bracket members 64 and 68. By placing the bracket members 64, 68 near where the arms enter the trunk, the pivot point 42 is positioned at a location corresponding to the location of the ball-and-socket joint in a human body that joins the upper arm to the trunk. When the doll is picked up or shaken, the arm 18 pivots in a natural manner. If the bracket members 64, 68 were eliminated, the arms would still move. However, the pivot point or bending area would move inward to a position just outside the slot 58 in the bracket member 54, and artificial-appearing arm movement would occur. The bracket members, such as member 62,. at the other doll arm 16 function in the same way.

Referring again more in particular to FIG. 1, the head 14 contains a plug member 70 which serves to join the head to the armature portion 26. The plug has a cylindrical outer shell 72 that is held within the neck portion. 38 of the doll head by a pair of flanges 74 and 76 at either end. The plug also has an inner tube portion 78 that surrounds an outer section of the armature portion 26.

The armature portion 26 includes a section 80 of reduced diameter to enable firm engagement with the walls of the slot 56 in the central bracket 54. Further out is section 82 of diameter L, section 84 of diameter S, section 86 with enlarged portions on either side of it for firm engagement with the inner tube portion 78 of the plug, and a tapered end 88 for aiding in insertion of the armature through the plug.

The pivot point 36 for the head is located approximately at the center of the reduced-diameter section 84 which has a diameter S. The pivot point is located further out than the section 82 because of its larger diameter L. The diameter S is about percent less than diameter L, which produces a bending moment of inertia, to resist the bending, which is only about one-half as great (since the moment of inertia I=rrR/ 4 for a circular cross section beam). The location of the pivot point 36, which is in the neck portion of the doll, corresponds to the pivot point usually employed in rotating the human head to look up or down or to tilt to one side.

Instead of employing a reduced-diameter outer section 84, the same location of the head pivot point 36 could be obtained by employing a bracket member fixed to the housing and supporting the armature portion 26 just inside of the pivot point. However, the head housing 14 must contain an integral neck portion 38 that extends down into the trunk. A separate head and neck that were pivotally joined often would create an artificial appearance. Accordingly, any such bracket member would have to have a tube portion that extended slightly into the neck, which would require a relatively complex member. By utilizing anarmature section of reduced diameter, a simple armature and support bracket are employed, yet a natural head pivot point location is obtained.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2 and 5, the second armature 27, which couples the legs to the trunk, is held by a central bracket member 90 on the back trunk housing portion 48. A post 92 on member 90 projects through a hole 94 in the armature, and into an opposed bracket member 96 on the front housing portion 50. A pair of outer bracket members 98 and 100 support the armature portions 32 and 34 just inside the leg housings and 22. A slight spacing between the bracket member 98, 100 and the leg housings is provided to enable leg rotation. The outer ends 102 and 104 of the armature portions are held by supports 106 and 108 formed in the leg housings.

The armature portions 32 and 34 have inner sections 110 and 112 of diameter M and outer sections 114 and 116 of a smaller diameter N. The sections 114 and 116 have numerous narrow splines protruding therefrom, and the diameter N is measured from the depths of the splines. As in the case of the armature portion that supports the head, the reduced diameter of sections 114 and 116 results in the location of the leg pivot points 44 and 46 at these sections. The diameter M is about 37 percent greater than diameter N, which provides a moment of inertia of about three to four times as great as the armature sections 114 and 116. This assures bending about the points 44 and 46, which is where the ball-and-socket joints of the human body are located.

It may be noted that in the leg armatures, the larger diameter M of sections 110, 112 is substantially larger, by about 37 percent, than the diameter N of adjacent outer sections 114, 116 where the pivot points are located, while in the head armature the diameter L of the larger diameter section 82 is only about 15 percent than the diameter S of the section 84 where the pivot point is located. The reason for this is that the human head is not supported on a ball-and-socket joint, but on vertebrae that enable bending, so pivoting substantially about a simple pivot point is not necessary. However, the thighs of the human body are pivoted about a single point, and a substantially concentrated pivot point for the doll legs is desirable.

The sections 66, 63 where the am armatures are held by the arm housing supports 65, 67, have numerous small splines. These splines allow the arm supports 65, 67 to slip on the armatures when the arms are twisted more than about 90 from their quiescent position, so the arms can be posed. In a similar manner, the sections 114 and 116 of the leg armatures have numerous small splines that allow the legs to be posed by rotating them by more than about from their quiescent position so that they slip.

The back portion 48 of the trunk housing has an aperture 120 for facilitating secure holding of the doll in a case. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a case 122 for holding the doll has a retainer 124 that projects through the doll housing aperture 120. The retainer 124 includes a circular base 126 that is held on the case, and an arrowhead-shaped member 128 that extends from the base. The member 128 has a wide flat portion 129 with a narrow neck that forms grooves 130, 132, and has a pair of bracing bars 134 on either side.

The doll housing aperture 120 is elongated, with a pair of cutaway portions 136 at the center (as shown in FIG. 1). Four latching members 138 in the form of ramps are formed in the doll housing about the center of the aperture. in order to fasten the doll to the case, the arrowhead-shaped member is projected through the aperture, with the wide portion 129 of the member and elongated portion of the aperture aligned. Then the doll is turned 90 until the wide flat portion 129 of the retainer member is held between the latching members 138 on the doll housing. Removal of the doll from the case requires hard pressing in of the retaining member 124 while turning it.

Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated herein, it is recognized that modifications and variations may readily occur to those skilled in the art, and consequently, it is intended that the claims be interpreted to cover such modifications and equivalents.

What we claim is:

I. In a figure toy having a torso and appendages, ajoint assembly for joining said appendages to said torso to enable lifelike bouncing movement of said appendages, comprising:

an elastomeric armature having a central portion and elongated, substantially cylindrical portions extending from said central portion to said appendages, said elongated portions having sufficient resiliency to return said appendages to a predetermined quiescent position after said appendages have been deflected therefrom, said elongated portions having sufficient size and strength to freely support said appendages with clearance between said appendages and said torso;

means affixing'said central portion to said torso;

said appendages extending loosely into corresponding enlarged openings in said torso;

means connecting said appendages to said elongated portions; and

means provided on said elongated portions for establishing a localized bending area for each portion at a location corresponding to the desired location of a pivot point for said appendage.

2. A joint assembly as stated in claim 1 wherein said means for establishing each of said localized bending areas comprises a bracket affixed to said torso and supporting an associated one of said elongated portions adjacent an associated one of said appendages, said bending areas lying between the brackets and the appendages.

3. A joint assembly as stated in claim 1 wherein said means for establishing said localized bending areas comprise reduced-diameter portions on said elongated portions.

4. A joint assembly as stated in claim 1 wherein said means affixing said central portion to said torso includes a pin affixed to said torso and passing through said central portion.

5. A joint assembly as stated in claim 1 wherein said appendages comprise a head and two arms supported by said armature, wherein the means for establishing a localized bending area for each arm comprises a bracket affixed to said torso and supporting an elongated portion adjacent an associated one of said appendages with said localized bending areas lying between the brackets and the arms and wherein the means for establishing said localized bending area for the elongated portion supporting said head comprises a reduced-diameter portion on said elongated portion.

6. A toy comprising:

trunk, head and arm housings;

said head and arm housings having portions extending loosely into enlarged openings in said trunk housing;

an armature of elastomeric resilient material having a central portion mounted in said trunk housing, and first, second and third portions extending therefrom into and joined to said head and arm housings, respectively;

bracket means mounted on said trunk housing engaging said central portion to fix it on said trunk housing; said armature portions being resiliently bendable but of sufficient stiffness to normally support said arm and head housings in predetermined positions.

7. The toy described in claim 6 wherein:

said housings are constructed for free rotation and movement toward andaway from each other, to permit free bouncing movements restrained substantially only by said armature.

8. The toy described in claim 6 including: I

a pair of bracket members mounted on said trunk housing at positions adjacent to said openings,

said bracket members engaging and holding said second and third portions to thereby localize an arm pivot point adjacent said openings.

9. The toy described in claim 6 wherein:

said first armature portion includes first and second sections located between said bracket means and said head housing, said first section having a larger diameter and located closer to said bracket means than said second section.

10. The toy described in claim 9 wherein:

said first section has a diameter at least 15 percent greater than the diameter of said second section.

11. A toy comprising:

trunk and leg housings;

said leg housings extending loosely into enlarged openings in said trunk housing;

an armature of resiliently bendable elastomeric material having a central portion affixed in said trunk housing and a pair of elongated, cylindrical armature portions extending therefrom into and joined to said leg housings; and

engaging means on said leg housings for engaging said elongated armature portions, said engagin g means and said elongated armature portions maintaining said leg housings out of contact with said trunk housing when said elongated portions are in a quiescent state.

12. The toy described in claim 11 wherein:

each of said elongated armature portions includes an inner and outer section between said central portion and said engaging means, said inner section being further from said leg housing and of greater diameter than said outer section, whereby to establish a pivot point at or near said outer section. 

1. In a figure toy having a torso and appendages, a joint assembly for joining said appendages to said torso to enable lifelike bouncing movement of said appendages, comprising: an elastomeric armature having a central portion and elongated, substantially cylindrical portions extending from said central portion to said appendages, said elongated portions having sufficient resiliency to return said appendages to a predetermined quiescent position after said appendages have been deflected therefrom, said elongated portions having sufficient size and strength to freely support said appendages with clearance between said appendAges and said torso; means affixing said central portion to said torso; said appendages extending loosely into corresponding enlarged openings in said torso; means connecting said appendages to said elongated portions; and means provided on said elongated portions for establishing a localized bending area for each portion at a location corresponding to the desired location of a pivot point for said appendage.
 2. A joint assembly as stated in claim 1 wherein said means for establishing each of said localized bending areas comprises a bracket affixed to said torso and supporting an associated one of said elongated portions adjacent an associated one of said appendages, said bending areas lying between the brackets and the appendages.
 3. A joint assembly as stated in claim 1 wherein said means for establishing said localized bending areas comprise reduced-diameter portions on said elongated portions.
 4. A joint assembly as stated in claim 1 wherein said means affixing said central portion to said torso includes a pin affixed to said torso and passing through said central portion.
 5. A joint assembly as stated in claim 1 wherein said appendages comprise a head and two arms supported by said armature, wherein the means for establishing a localized bending area for each arm comprises a bracket affixed to said torso and supporting an elongated portion adjacent an associated one of said appendages with said localized bending areas lying between the brackets and the arms and wherein the means for establishing said localized bending area for the elongated portion supporting said head comprises a reduced-diameter portion on said elongated portion.
 6. A toy comprising: trunk, head and arm housings; said head and arm housings having portions extending loosely into enlarged openings in said trunk housing; an armature of elastomeric resilient material having a central portion mounted in said trunk housing, and first, second and third portions extending therefrom into and joined to said head and arm housings, respectively; bracket means mounted on said trunk housing engaging said central portion to fix it on said trunk housing; said armature portions being resiliently bendable but of sufficient stiffness to normally support said arm and head housings in predetermined positions.
 7. The toy described in claim 6 wherein: said housings are constructed for free rotation and movement toward and away from each other, to permit free bouncing movements restrained substantially only by said armature.
 8. The toy described in claim 6 including: a pair of bracket members mounted on said trunk housing at positions adjacent to said openings, said bracket members engaging and holding said second and third portions to thereby localize an arm pivot point adjacent said openings.
 9. The toy described in claim 6 wherein: said first armature portion includes first and second sections located between said bracket means and said head housing, said first section having a larger diameter and located closer to said bracket means than said second section.
 10. The toy described in claim 9 wherein: said first section has a diameter at least 15 percent greater than the diameter of said second section.
 11. A toy comprising: trunk and leg housings; said leg housings extending loosely into enlarged openings in said trunk housing; an armature of resiliently bendable elastomeric material having a central portion affixed in said trunk housing and a pair of elongated, cylindrical armature portions extending therefrom into and joined to said leg housings; and engaging means on said leg housings for engaging said elongated armature portions, said engaging means and said elongated armature portions maintaining said leg housings out of contact with said trunk housing when said elongated portions are in a quiescent state.
 12. The toy described in claim 11 wherein: each of said elongateD armature portions includes an inner and outer section between said central portion and said engaging means, said inner section being further from said leg housing and of greater diameter than said outer section, whereby to establish a pivot point at or near said outer section. 